Here´s the Beef: Where to Eat Typical/Atypical Cuisine

By Kelley Coyner

Paraguay is cattle ranching country, the most agrarian country in all of South America. If you haven’t been to Argentina, you can begin steak training here, or if you’ve just passed Buenos Aires, you’ll be happy to know you can continue your carnivore diet here, where the most common menu is parrillada—a smorgasbord of grilled beef, sausage, organs and cuts that resemble slabs of brontosaurus meat. It sure makes for an easy wine selection.

Welcome to Asunción, a city blessed with a phenomenal restaurant scene. Not only do cooks here serve up typical Paraguayan food, but tasty Asian and European restaurants reflect the city’s cultural fusion.

Before you bite into the world of Paraguayan food there are a few tips, or should I say, translations you should learn. First, the national starch is sopa paraguaya, not really soup at all, but a sort of coarse cornbread mixed in liberally with onions and cheese. Rice is plentiful, as is cassava (manioc), considered the poor man’s starch. Mangos blanket the streets, sidewalks and yards, along with pretty much any tropical fruit in season. Curry and Mexican food lovers, be warned: Paraguayans aren’t into any sort of spicy dishes.

Grab a chipa, a type of Paraguayan bread made from manioc flour. It is sold everywhere: supermarkets, the produce markets and by street vendors. The vendors hit the streets with fresh chipa around four or five in the afternoon and hawk it relentlessly for hours, so you really can’t miss it. During Holy Week (usually in March or April) look for chipas shaped like animals native to the country.

The Holy Grail of beverages is tereré, a cold mate infusion served in the summer, which lasts nine months. In the cooler mornings, hot yerba mate is the preferred beverage. This tea-like beverage is imbibed from a wampa, or cow’s horn and a silver bombilla, or metal straw. Sometimes special herbs are added for flavor or for their medicinal qualities. On the street you will see Paraguayans carrying tereré apparatus, including a thermos for hot or chilled water depending on the season. Even the police carry all their terreré accoutrement on the street and at their sentry points. If you are not similarly equipped, note that sipping tereré is considered a communal ritual and it is not socially acceptable to decline, save one reason. Simply insist “I just ate watermelon.” Apparently the tea and melon just don’t mix.

If you want to go international, check out Hiroshima, a great Japanese choice. However, you might want to hold on the sushi until Friday because the fish arrives from the Pacific coast of South America on the 8:00 p.m. flight on Thursday. There is a kebab and gyro sandwich place on San Martin with good cheap sandwiches, falafel and air conditioning. Casa Rica next door, a little German owned supermarket, has a great bakery with dark breads alongside more typical Latin pastries.

In fact, there are several German bakeries in Asunción that offer fresh brown bread and selections from the Central European pastry cart. People here eat fresh fruit for dessert or dulce de leche, a sort of caramel you can eat with a spoon. Dulce de leche finds its way into just about everything.

The stores carry good wine from Argentina and Chile. The lager is excellent—with such a large German community, what would you expect? From fresh grilled meats to chipa bread, no matter what your palette craves, you can find a world of food in Ascunción.